Illustrated Stories From The Bible - A Lot of Naughty Stuff

Illustrated Bible Stories (that they won't tell you in Sunday School)

A Lot of Naughty Stuff

Why this story matters

(commentary on Genesis 18-19)

(Page 1 of 5)

Introduction

One could easily be excused for thinking that the inclusion of this story in an illustrated work on the Bible is for provocation and gratuitous titillation. After all, if that's not the point, what is? Then again, the same could be asked of the author of Genesis because no one knows for sure why this incident was included in the Bible. It causes headaches for Bible teachers because of its pornographic nature, and because there is no clear ethical lesson offered. The text is void of any condemnation of the girls’ actions or of Lot's affinity for alcohol. So we'll have to read between the lines to find out what the real moral of the story is. In the process, we'll discover that most Christians have been mislead about the moral lesson behind the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. While conservative evangelicals are fond of blaming this on the evils of gay male sex, that's not actually what the Bible says.

Illustrations

A word should be said first about the illustrations and narration. While some may be offended, they are merely providing detail that is already implicit in the Genesis account. The story is taken directly from the Bible. First, the Bible tell us that the girls conspired to get their father drunk so they could get pregnant: “Let's get our father to drink wine and then lie with him and preserve our family line through our father" (Gen. 19:32). Then we are told that Lot remembers nothing the next day: “He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up” (Gen. 19:33). If they got him so drunk that he was oblivious to the whole thing, and he was already about 65 years old, it would have taken quite an effort to get him aroused to the point of ejaculation. And that's only if you consider it to be possible at all. And the girls would have to be stimulated to a degree, too, since there would have been no artificial lubricant available. And, lastly, we have Lot's drinking problem. He's clearly no stranger to alcoholic excess. After getting so drunk that he didn't even remember having sex with his daughter, Lot supposedly get's just as drunk the very next night. So there's really nothing in the illustrations or narration that is worse than the Bible story itself.